That deserved a kiss.
We both tasted like rum and sex. My scent was all over her, and smelling it on her skin made me hard. She smiled lazily and pressed her face to my chest and inhaled.
“God, you make me feel drunk,” she said.
I held her down, my body flexing against hers. Tamsin ran her hands over my bare back, sculpting the muscles with her fingertips. Her hips rose to meet me but I pulled up. Nails carved the hard ridges of my obliques.
“Torturer,” she said.
I rolled off the bed, taking the sheet.
Tamsin squawked in protest.
I wrapped the sheet around my waist and went to gaze out at the city. The snow had stopped, but white film lay on everything that faced the sky. Out on the oil-blue lake the ice had split like cracked glass, and the sun glanced off it in knives of pure light. A glittering, beautifully wrecked world.
Tam came to stand beside me. I looked at her a long moment, and she stood undaunted. No discomfort in her own skin. I slid my arms around her, nuzzled at her neck.
“What do we do with the rest of our lives?” I said.
“Stay in this room.”
We did, for a while anyway. Kissed each other raw and bruised. Worked up a fire to fuck and then stopped, cooled, started over. I kept the sheet on, still not comfortable being nude in full daylight. She didn’t seem to mind. We wrestled across the bed, again and again returning to my body over hers, my weight pinning her down, and her eyes hooded and her legs spread and I knew she wanted to be fucked. I wanted to give it to her, but not like this. Not yet.
There were things to do.
A girl to confront.
A man to kill.
And whatever would become of me after.
Tamsin’s phone vibrated on the nightstand. She sat up, and I watched seriousness spread over her face.
“It’s Laney.”
My heart squeezed. “What does she want?”
“To talk to you. Since you apparently blocked her number.”
The magic of last night began to fade. “I’ll talk if she’s ready to come clean. If she’ll do the right thing about Adam. Otherwise, she can go fuck herself.”
Tam frowned. “Perhaps it’s best I speak to her first.”
“And say what?”
“Negotiate.”
“I’m not negotiating, Tamsin. I will not compromise on this. I can’t.” I touched her hand. “She’s out to ruin my fucking life. She’s involving the man who hurt me. No fucking compromises.”
Tamsin turned her back, pulling her bra on. “Let me bloody talk to her.”
I watched her dress and tried my damnedest not to be a paranoid, hypersensitive asshole. But when she bent to kiss me before leaving, I leaned away.
“Right, then,” she said flatly.
At the door she glanced over her shoulder.
“Good luck, Cress,” I said.
———
Even though I had the key, I rang the buzzer. No answer.
Bell meowed hello when I opened the door. I scratched her head, my nose wrinkling at the staleness of old smoke. Fucking Ingrid and her cigarettes.
Where was she, anyway?
Empty sink, garbage neatly bagged. Everything in its right place. It was like walking through her mind, the rigidity and cleanliness crushing. Except for those toxic fumes.
I wandered toward her bedroom.
I don’t know what drew me—maybe that sixth sense we had. Inside she sat at her vanity, a miniature red eye floating in the darkness beside her. She was so still my heart hurtled into my throat.
“Ingrid.”
In the mirror her face was a pale blur, an eraser mark. She was watching me.
I moved closer. Reached out and snatched the cigarette from her hand, skimming her fingers. First time we’d touched since that fucked-up kiss.
I snuffed the cherry out. “These will kill you.”
“Everything’s killing us.”
One of those Ingrid moods. As I straightened she grabbed my wrist, slim white fingers hard as bone.
“Was she good?” Inge said hoarsely. “Did she suck it for you?”
“Don’t be like this.”
“Why are you here?”
“To see if you’re okay, creep.”
She let go, laughing, humorless.
Then her smile fell. She said, “Someone’s been watching me.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Little things. There’s always someone at the end of the block, wherever I go. I get goose bumps when I’m out in public.” She stared at the embers in the ashtray. “Before you came, I heard footsteps in the stairwell. I turned out the lights to see if they’d come in.”
My hackles stirred. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“I think it’s your girlfriend.”
“What?” Instinctively I glanced into the hall. “That’s nuts.”
“Remember how I thought I’d seen her somewhere before that night with the bouquet? I was right. I’ve seen her everywhere—getting coffee, or on the train, or browsing a store with me. She’s been following me for months, too. Like she did with Adam.”
“Ingrid.” Believe her. “Are you sure?”